Toshihiro Nagoshi, the crazy creator of Super Monkey Ball has been speaking on all things Monkey Ball, as well as what makes a good game. And if anyone should know, it’s him!
Talking about level design and construction in Monkey Ball, Nagoshi said, “First of all, after you determine the rules of the game, you figure out the easiest and the hardest levels - levels 1 and 130. Then you start subtracting from level 130, making it easier, little by little. In doing this, you are reducing the number of features that change. So once you get the rough idea, you then expand each of the features and fill out the parts in between. Some features are very easy to expand, and some are more difficult. This also affects the number of levels.”
He continues, “Fundamentally, the game doesn't have an enemy. So we have bumpers. Usually, anything that prevents the character from going somewhere is the enemy. In a game without an enemy present, you need to come up with other enemy-like things. But having too many of these bumpers might detract from the game, because you might not be able to concentrate on finding the right path - you may worry about the bumpers too much. So not overdoing it was a hard thing to do.” But done very well, we’re sure you will agree!
It has been rumoured that level 130 in Super Monkey Ball was one of the first created. When asked about this Nagoshi said, “We start with a concept, and the order of how it becomes a finished product is really not related to that. But we do have levels that were impossible to finish. Those might have been the real level 130 that we thought about, but we had to detune it and make it a little easier. We also have these in-between points, and when you expand features there, it can change other features that come before it. The tuning part is difficult to do. We had to constantly play the game and re-order it bit by bit, and make it more contiguous.”
Yippee! Monkey Ball makes us happy!
Enjoy these new screens!
Talking about level design and construction in Monkey Ball, Nagoshi said, “First of all, after you determine the rules of the game, you figure out the easiest and the hardest levels - levels 1 and 130. Then you start subtracting from level 130, making it easier, little by little. In doing this, you are reducing the number of features that change. So once you get the rough idea, you then expand each of the features and fill out the parts in between. Some features are very easy to expand, and some are more difficult. This also affects the number of levels.”
He continues, “Fundamentally, the game doesn't have an enemy. So we have bumpers. Usually, anything that prevents the character from going somewhere is the enemy. In a game without an enemy present, you need to come up with other enemy-like things. But having too many of these bumpers might detract from the game, because you might not be able to concentrate on finding the right path - you may worry about the bumpers too much. So not overdoing it was a hard thing to do.” But done very well, we’re sure you will agree!
It has been rumoured that level 130 in Super Monkey Ball was one of the first created. When asked about this Nagoshi said, “We start with a concept, and the order of how it becomes a finished product is really not related to that. But we do have levels that were impossible to finish. Those might have been the real level 130 that we thought about, but we had to detune it and make it a little easier. We also have these in-between points, and when you expand features there, it can change other features that come before it. The tuning part is difficult to do. We had to constantly play the game and re-order it bit by bit, and make it more contiguous.”
Yippee! Monkey Ball makes us happy!
Enjoy these new screens!
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